


Alternate I

by sadbabyosborn (arka_r)



Series: Siblings AU [2]
Category: Ultimate Spider-Man (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Siblings, Canon Related, Canon-Typical Violence, Dimension Travel, Gen, Kid Fic, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 08:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3283853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arka_r/pseuds/sadbabyosborn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Ultimate Spider Man's Goblin landed in an universe that's unlike the others. It's up to Spider Man to stop his devilish schemes.</p><p>(set between The Spider-Verse: Part 3 and Part 4, after Miles' universe and before Peter returns to USM-verse, intro to my other fic, <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/3251963">Spider Spandex</a>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alternate I

Today was one of the most hectic time of the month. The Parkers, Ben and May, were having their bi-monthly ‘honeyweek’ as they liked to call it and as usual, they were all but dropping their nephew and niece at Norman’s door, leaving Norman with one six years old boy who seemed fascinated by everything he did and one five years old girl that could destroy a part of the kitchen in her attempt to fix a breakfast.

 

The first time he did this, it was quite a shock. At first he thought, what was so different from taking care of two children and four? He’d never been so wrong in his life, but now that he’d done this several times, the shock had somewhat subsided and he could go through the week with little to no collateral damage.

 

Louise, Norman’s own six-years old daughter, was the alpha of the group. She would take Peter Parker and his sister Erica to wreak havoc if left unattended. Norman had learned from his mistake and changed the key to his lab from passcode input (he still didn’t know how in the world Louise could guess the fifteen-digits combination with little to no effort) to retina scan. He also employed Harry, his eight-years old son, to attend the children when he was otherwise occupied. Peter was always afraid of Harry, naturally, since Harry was bigger than him—Harry was bigger than children of his age, in fact—so hopefully he could talk reasons to Louise before they could try anything crazy.

 

Norman had also learned that if he gave the children a task of their own, they would prone to do mischief less. It was what he did at the morning. While he was preparing breakfast (fried rice with vegan meat mixed with cut beef sausages), he assigned Louise and Peter to arrange the plastic plates. Harry was entrusted with the task to prepare the cutleries, since he wouldn’t trust both six-years olds to handle sharp objects, while Erica was tasked to bring out orange juice and milk from the fridge.

 

“Watch out, it’s still hot”, Norman warned the children as he poured the rice to each plate.

 

“Can’t you invent plate to quick cooling food, Daddy?” Louise asked. As usual, his daughter could make up the most bizarre ideas.

 

“That is a good idea, Sweetie. I’ll remember it for my next project”, Norman replied without missing a beat. Thankfully, his answer seemed to satisfy Louise, as she was starting to dig into her food.

 

The breakfast was loud and messy as usual. The Parkers were well-mannered under adult’s supervision and Harry was never a trouble-maker since begin with. Norman helped his son to pour the milk and orange juice into the younger children’s glasses and tried to silence Louise’s idea to mix both. She could be quite a handful at times. He wondered from which part of the family did she got that trait of hers.

 

“No experiment on school day, Louise”, he reminded his youngest child. Louise pouted and went on to eat her breakfast sullenly. Silent Louise was a destruction in the making. Norman probably should keep all milks and orange juices away from the six-years old’s reach.

 

Then, the doorbell rang.

 

“Watch over your sister, Harry”, Norman took off his apron and gave his son a light pat on the shoulder, walking to the intercom on the living room. Odd, he think. Who would come at this hour? His secretary would know not to disturb him in the morning since he would be too busy preparing the kids for school to do anything else. Perhaps the Parkers decided to cancel their vacation, one way or another… though that was quite unlikely.

 

He certainly didn’t expect the front door to explode, causing him to land on his back from the shockwave. His ears rang from the explosion, but otherwise he was unharmed… or perhaps the adrenaline had dulled his sense of pain and he would feel it later when it subsided. As he tried to climb up to his feet, he saw a giant green monster stepped into the living room.

 

“Norman Osborn”, the monster drawled with a huge crazy grin on its face. Norman’s eyes widened. That thing knew his name… Wait. No, that monster had to be someone in a monster suit, right? He saw one when he took the children to the Disneyland. As for its voice, it had to be a microphone with sound effect.

 

He didn’t know how to make expressions on the mask, though… or why a man in monster costume would blow his front door to pieces for that matter.

 

“That would be me”, Norman stood shakily. He combed his hair back and stared at this… intruder. “I don’t remember hiring a performer, though.”

 

“You don’t know me, not yet. I am your future, your cure for your weak, miserable being. I am you”, the costumed performer pointed. “Join me, Osborn. Together, we can destroy Spider Man.”

 

“What the heck is Spider Man”, Norman blurted. Though he had to admit, it was a pretty nice theatric, but still. None of it made any sense. He glared haughtily at the unknown intruder. “Listen, I don’t know who you are, but you arrived at a very wrong moment. Now excuse me, I have four children to get to school on time and I only have thirty minutes left.”

 

With that, he turned around and found four little heads poking through the doorway curiously. He cursed inwardly. If this man in costume wanted to cause him harm, he would need to take the children somewhere safe. And quick.

 

The monster roared, causing Norman to turn back to face the intruder again. He shielded the children from the intruder’s sight by using his body.

 

“Pathetic!” the intruder roared into his face. “So weak! You have power! Intelligence! You could’ve had _everything_ , could be _anything!_ And yet this is what you decide to be? This _domestic_ life? Where is that Norman Osborn who swore that he would have all the power in the world?”

 

“I have two children to raise. I have no time for world domination”, Norman stared back at the intruder’s face, chest puffed up defiantly.

 

“Then I will give you that time!” the intruder—the monster, because by now he was sure that no make up artist could create prosthetics _that_ good—lunged. With one sweep of its massive arm, it sent Norman across the room like a ragdoll where he hit the wall. Dizzy from the impact, he could still manage to see it grabbing Harry and Peter, before it rammed onto the window and disappeared.

 

Note to self, never anger a monstrous green giant.

 

Gathering up his will, he crawled up to his feet. His vision was still spotty at the edges, but he couldn’t pass out now; Peter and Harry’s life was on the line. Who knew what a raving mad monster would do to small children? Hopefully not eating them.

 

Louise was crying while Erica was deathly pale, hopefully only from fear and not injury. Still, that wasn’t good. Norman stopped in front of the girls and gathered them up in his arms. They were too heavy for him to carry, but it was enough to give comfort. Erica’s stiff body was melting into his hug and Norman could breathe a little bit easier.

 

“It kidnap’d Hawwy!” Louise wailed.

 

“Yes, but I will get police’s help to get him and Peter back”, Norman kissed her hair in a vain attempt to stop her crying. When he stood up to reach the landline however, he felt his sleeve tugged.

 

“Uncle No’man, don’t go”, Erica was holding his sleeve in deathly grip. Her big brown eyes widened in fear.

 

“I need to get your brother back. Your aunt will hit me with a broom if he gets hurt under my care”, Norman smiled tightly. May Parker probably would do more than hitting him with a broom, but he didn’t need to mention it to an already-traumatised child. At least it was enough to make Erica smile, although she still looked terrified.

 

He left the girls to huddle on the couch and got the wireless from the table. When he was about to dial the cops when a… there was no word to describe it accurately… vortex opened and something flung out of the vortex, through the broken window, and landed onto the destroyed living room.

 

That something was clad in tight full-bodied spandex suit. As it climbed to its feet, its eyes fixed to Norman’s direction—it was hard to discern, as it wore full-face mask. Even its eyes were covered with white lenses.

 

“Alright, Osborn! Where’s the Goblin? Don’t try to lie to me, because I know he’s in this universe!” it shouted.

 

“The Goblin?” Norman furrowed his eyebrows.

 

“Yeah! Big, green, and mean. Ring any bells?” the masked intruder raised its hands to him.

 

Green and mean…? Was it that monstrous creature? Rage started to bubble in Norman’s chest. He grabbed a long wooden stick that used to be his door and lunged at the intruder.

 

“Are you that creature’s acquaintance? Was it not enough that you kidnapped _two children_ that you want to take _the rest?_ Well, you’re in for a _surprise!_ ” he swung it at the intruder’s head. “ _No one_ messes with my children!”

 

The intruder was surprisingly agile as it dodged each of his attacks. It shot something from its hands that caused Norman’s hand to stick to a wall. Webs. Very strong webs were gluing his wrists to the wall.

 

“Ooookay. Pause, pause”, the new intruder made a cross gesture with its arms. “It seems that we have a misunderstanding here. The Goblin kidnapped two of your children?” it cocked its head and looked around. As it caught the sight of the girls on the couch, it turned back to him. “Wow, you have four children.”

 

“No, I have two; a son and a daughter”, Norman growled through gritted teeth. “The other boy that got kidnapped was a friend’s that I’m babysitting, but he’s like children to me too.”

 

He tried to pull off his wrist, but those flimsy webs were surprisingly resilient. “Get this off me! I need to call the cops and punch that kidnapper right in the nose!” he grunted as he struggled against the binds.

 

“Alright, how about this. You want to save the kids, right?” the intruder pointed a finger at his face.

 

“Of course!” he harrumphed indignantly.

 

“I will get those off of you, but you don’t call the cops”, the intruder pointed two fingers, then another one. “And you _will_ help me taking down that monster. In return, you’ll have the kids back and I will tell you _everything_.”

 

That was a very hard offer to ignore. Norman nodded. As long as he could get Harry and Peter back… “Deal.”

 

The masked intruder ripped the webs off his wrists as if they were mere papers. Norman rubbed his wrists, but they weren’t chafed by the webs like ropes would. He tilted his head to the girls. “What about them? What if that monster will get them when we’re off chasing it?” he asked at the masked intruder.

 

“Oh… They’ll be okay, I think. That Goblin… He’s only after me. Or me from this universe”, the masked intruder replied easily. “You got a weapon or something? I know that Norman Osborn from my universe kept homemade weapons under his desk or behind the wall Man In Black style but I don’t know about you—”

 

“I’m a biochemist, not a weapon manufacturer”, Norman huffed in annoyance.

 

“Huh, cool”, the masked intruder looked surprised and wrapped an arm around Norman’s waist. “Then buckle up!”

 

“Buckle wh—AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

 

The masked intruder pulled him through the broken window and the next split-seconds, they were free-falling.

 

“JESUS CHRIST!! JESUS FUCKING—”

 

Alien. The masked intruder had to be an alien, just like that green monstrous intruder was an alien—and they were going to kill him. That was their plan all along. And maybe they were going to eat the children as snacks, he thought morbidly. Perhaps he shouldn’t watch too many alien movies in his youth, a voice in his head that sounded so much like Emily chided.

 

Before they hit the ground, though, the masked intruder shot a string of web out of its hand and used it to swing. Winds whipped his hair back and Norman clutched the intruder’s slender body like a lifeline… quite literally.

 

Wait. Webs. The masked intruder used webs to swing and incapacitate him earlier. Just like spiders. “You’re Spider Man!!” Norman shouted, remembering the green monster’s words earlier; to destroy Spider Man. Or something like that.

 

“I am… Or I am, from another universe. There should be a Spider Man in this universe”, the masked intruder said.

 

Again with universe. “You talk like there are more than one universe”, Norman scowled.

 

“There are. Believe me. Even I still have a hard time believing myself.”

 

Theoretical physics was not Norman’s forte so he decided that Spider Man was, quite literally, an alien; an intruder from another universe. He decided that was the safest explanation that wouldn’t make his head spin even more—he had enough headache from the vertigo-inducing swinging. An alien called the Goblin was an enemy from Spider Man, and it travelled to this universe to destroy this universe’s Spider Man. Who could it be, though?

 

“You mentioned about Norman Osborn in your universe. That would be me, yes?” he asked. It seemed bizarre to know that there were another him on another universes.

 

“Eh… Sorta”, Spider Man replied uncertainly. “You’re definitely better than him, hands down.”

 

Norman decided that he was just given a compliment, to save himself yet another headache.

 

After a few minutes swinging seemingly aimlessly, Spider Man landed on the top of a skyscraper and set him down carefully on the flat surface.

 

“We’re on a wild goose chase. We need a plan”, Spider Man told him and walked in circles on the top of the building.

 

“You were the one who nabbed me!” Norman accused as he was patting his shirt in a vain attempt to smooth it down. Spider Man clearly ignored him. There was no way he couldn’t hear him.

 

“Okay, first of all… Tell me about this universe’s Spider Man”, Spider Man turned to him.

 

“There is no such thing as Spider Man”, Norman frowned. “Not that I know of.”

 

Spider Man sighed. “Great. This is just great. The Goblin landed us in an universe where me doesn’t exist”, he plopped down on the floor, legs dangling at the side of the building. Norman didn’t know what to say, when Spider Man raised his head again. “Wait a minute. Your son. How old is your son. Tell me.”

 

“Harry is eight”, Norman blinked at Spider Man’s sudden question. “Why does—”

 

“I knew it!” Spider Man suddenly hopped to his feet, his arms thrown upwards. “There is no Spider Man in this universe, this _time_ , because Spider Man doesn’t exist _yet!_ ”

 

“You mean…” Norman rubbed his chin slowly. “Spider Man is doesn’t exist yet, because he is not yet to be born…?”

 

“Or”, Spider Man pointed gloved finger at him. “Spider Man is still a small baby and he doesn’t get turned into Spider Man yet.”

 

“You’re about my son’s age?” Norman asked. “Wait, you know my son?”

 

“Yes, I’m… Harry and I are in the same class at school”, Spider Man looked away. If Norman didn’t know better, he would think Spider Man was _blushing_ under his mask. “But point is, I got turned into Spider Man when I was around fifteen? Sixteen?”

 

“How did you get ‘turned’ into Spider Man?” Norman was curious. As he gathered, Spider Man was born as normal human with no power and lived his life as normal human too until at some point in his life, he achieved that power. Perhaps some sort of super soldier serum that changed him, like it was to Captain America.

 

“Got bit by a genetically engineered spider”, Spider Man shrugged. “Long story. Wait… I shouldn’t tell you this. I _probably_ shouldn’t tell you this.”

 

“Why? Because it will alter my future?” Norman asked again.

 

“Er, sorta”, was the only Spider Man’s answer. He walked in circles again, muttering under his breath. “This is bad. If the Goblin knows that Spider Man does not exist yet in this universe, he will target him. He will make Spider Man to never exist.”

 

“You know, this will be easier if you just tell me who you are under the mask”, Norman suggested.

 

“No!” Spider Man blurted. “No! Bad idea! I wear this mask for a reason, you know? People will get hurt, people that I _care_.”

 

“Those people are not in this universe, Spider Man”, Norman rubbed forehead. “And as I told you, I’m a biochemist. My interest is to create a better world through my inventions, not to hurt people.”

 

“Oh, I don’t doubt that you have a good intentions”, Spider Man shrugged in an exaggerated manner. “But you know how they said about good intentions and road to hell.”

 

“Spider Man, my _son_ is with that monster at this moment and the longer you dilly-dally me with such nonsense, the thinner his chance of survival”, Norman growled impatiently. “And speaking about my son, did you not say that you two are friends? Did you not say that you know me? Do you not trust me?”

 

Spider Man stopped on his track and slowly, very slowly, turned to face him. Norman tilted his head at Spider Man’s reaction.

 

“No offense, but…” Spider Man sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I kinda don’t trust you from my universe. You, I mean that other Norman Osborn from my universe, don’t really… erm… have the best intentions for Harry. And he’s kind of prick… ish.”

 

Norman took a step back. The other him, the one from Spider Man’s universe… What did it meant with him not having the best intentions to his son? To _Harry_?

 

“What do you mean…” he muttered. And then, it clicked. What the Goblin said, what Spider Man said. “The Goblin… He said he is me. I’m not the Goblin… am I?”

 

Spider Man’s silence answered it all to him.

 

“The Goblin is me”, Norman repeated flatly.

 

“So you can see why I don’t want to expose my identity? The Goblin from my universe _knows_ who I am. If I expose myself to you, the little me from this universe’s safety will—”

 

“Well, I am NOT **him**!” Norman shouted. “Tell me, did the Goblin hurt your Harry Osborn? Did he hurt _his own son?_ Because let me tell you this, I will _never_ , **_ever_** , hurt my son!”

 

In the silence, Norman could hear himself breathing hard. Spider Man was staring at him, still and unmoving. Norman hated it that he couldn’t see his face, couldn’t discern whatever emotion that was running in the masked man’s head.

 

Harry. His son. Right, he needed to focus himself. If he would be a murderous monster in the future, he would do anything within his capabilities to prevent that—but now was not the time. Now he needed to save his son. His son, his precious little son.

 

“Please”, Norman whimpered. “That monster _took_ my son, and someone who I thought as a son of mine. Let me prove it to you that I am not that monster. Please…”

 

Slowly, so very slowly, Spider Man raised his hands. Norman flinched, thinking that Spider Man would shoot him with his curious webbing, but Spider Man was simply putting them at the front of his mask and _pulled_.

 

Behind the mask was a young teen with no special features whatsoever. His hair was dull brown and his eyes were blue. Freckles covered most part of his face. He could easily be everyone. Yet, there was a nagging feeling that somehow, _somehow_ , Norman knew who he was.

 

“Peter…?” he gasped.

 

“So you know me”, Spider Man—no, Peter—muttered.

 

There was no doubt that it was, indeed, Peter Parker. His face was more defined and he definitely grew taller—odd, he found it hard to believe that weedy thing would grow; he thought Peter would be that kind of teen who would stay smallish even after puberty hit. He wore no braces and no glasses to correct his sight.

 

Then, it hit him.

 

“Shit—Peter!” he turned, and whoops—right, he forgot that he was at the top of seventy-something stories tall building. “We need to get to the Goblin! He got Peter!”

 

“Wait wh—”

 

“The other child, the one that Goblin kidnapped—It was your other self, Peter Parker!” Norman was near hysteric. If something happened to Peter…

 

“Oh no…” was all that Spider Man said before he put his mask back on, grabbing Norman by the waist, and swung away.

 

\--

 

The little critters were crying.

 

The one with auburn hair was this universe’s Harry Osborn, that was for certain. However, the Goblin didn’t recognize the one with brown hair. He assumed he was this universe’s Norman Osborn’s other children; they looked like brothers in a glance, but it turned out that they were quite different from one to another.

 

Goblin’s mind replayed the event at the penthouse and cursed. Norman Osborn’s other children had to be the girl with short blond hair. She looked like Emily Osborn, Norman Osborn’s long dead wife. Osborn had to be taking care of relatives’ children aside from his own spawns.

 

He didn’t understand why this universe’s Norman Osborn was so… meek. Why would a CEO to Osborn Chemicals, also known as Oscorp Industries, debase himself to do menial tasks of parenthood? Why would this universe’s Norman Osborn stand to care not only one, but _four_ of those critters? He even made them food! With his own hands!

 

His own universe’s Harry Osborn was a failure who was not even fit to inherit his legacy, the Venom. Even the one that he thought would be worthy to bear Venom turned out to be another disappointment.

 

The Goblin snarled. Peter Parker. Peter Parker was Spider Man. In that other universe where Spider Man died, he found a grave with Peter Parker’s name. It was too coincidental not to be true as there was no other universe where Spider Man died while Peter Parker lived… or the other way around.

 

Goblin looked at the two critters he tied on the top of a tower. If this universe’s Harry Osborn was still a crying infant, then this universe’s Peter Parker had to be an infant too. That was another universal constant; Harry Osborn and Peter Parker had always been of the same age. Even in that universe where Spider Man was a girl and Norman Osborn was a woman.

 

That was the reason why Osborn was confused when the Goblin mentioned Spider Man. There might be no Spider Man yet in this universe… and there might never be Spider Man in this universe at all. All he needed to do was hunting Peter Parker down and kill him.

 

Anyway, didn’t that Parker boy lived with his aunt at Forest Hills?

 

\--

 

“Why are we here?” Norman asked when Spider Man put him down on the ground. Looking around was the familiar neighborhood of Forest Hill where the Parkers lived.

 

“By now, Goblin should’ve realized that there’s no Spider Man in this universe yet. The next thing he will do…” Spider Man gulped, but Norman didn’t need him to finish his sentence. He knew the way the Goblin was thinking. If the Goblin didn’t know the identity of the other children he kidnapped, he would hunt down this universe’s Peter Parker at his own house.

 

It scared him. It scared him _so much_ that he could understand the way that monstrous creature think.

 

“Why is the little me staying at your place, anyway?” Spider Man rummaged the geranium pot and found a spare key hidden there. Of course Norman had another one, just in case little Peter and Erica needed something from their house.

 

“I’m babysitting you and your sister while your aunt and uncle are on vacation”, Norman gave a small shrug even though Spider Man was backing him to open the Parkers’ residence.

 

“I have a sister, huh…? Weird”, Spider Man finally managed to open the door and walked into the house. “What’s her name? How’s she like?”

 

“Her name is Erica. She’s a shy little one”, Norman smiled. “You, on the other hand, is quite a handful. My daughter always manages to rope you into making trouble.”

 

“Your daughter sounds like quite a menace”, Spider Man snorted. Norman watched amusedly as the adult version of his charge was flipping through the house, taking a particular interest to family photos hanging on the wall. “I almost forgot that they always do that stupid honeyweek, my uncle and aunt.”

 

“Where were you when they were on their honeyweek?” Norman raised his eyebrows. Surely the Parkers wouldn’t leave Peter alone?

 

“They used to take me along”, Spider Man shrugged. “How did you meet them anyway?”

 

“A month after my wife died, my son fell from the stairs and broke his leg. I took him to the hospital. Your uncle and aunt were there, waiting for your sister in ER. She got high fever”, Norman told him. “I was… new at being a single parent. They helped me, are still helping me, with this whole parenthood thing.”

 

Spider Man turned and gave him a long stare. “You really love your children, huh”, he muttered.

 

“With my life”, Norman added without any shadow of doubt, before sighing exhaustedly. “Though I… don’t know what to do if I will turn into a—a—”

 

“You know… Not to break your spirit or anything, but out of six universes, seven with this, that I’ve visited to chase that wacko, I met your counterparts twice. Both of them are the Goblin of their universes”, Spider Man looked down to his feet.

 

“An universal constant”, Norman swallowed. “A pivotal event that will be repeated through the multiverse. Just like you being a Spider Man.”

 

Was there no changing to his fate? Would he really be yet another mindless monster, set on destroying the lives that he loved most?

 

“Or it’s not. Remember, I didn’t meet the Goblin from four other universes”, Spider Man raised his head and flailed his arms.

 

“Because you didn’t stay long at those universes, or that your paths did not cross.” Or anything, really. There could be thousands and thousands of reasons why Spider Man didn’t meet the Goblin of those universes. “Or because I was dead.”

 

“Wow, you’re such a ray of sunshine, Mr. O”, Spider Man chuckled and punched Norman lightly on the shoulder. “Or it could be because you didn’t turn into ugly monster… thing.”

 

Norman glared weakly at Spider Man. “Excuse me that I have an existential crisis, seeing I just found out that chances are I will turn into said ‘ugly monster thing’ in my distant future, as you described it aptly.”

 

“If you think he’s ugly, then you should’ve seen the one in the universe where I died and—” Spider Man paused, before adding awkwardly. “I’m not helping, am I?”

 

“Lords give me strength, Peter Parker will grow into a _snarkmaster_ ”, Norman threw himself into the couch and rubbed his face repeatedly. Behind him, he could hear Spider Man chuckling as he continued his search around the house.

 

Focus. He needed to focus.

 

He knew how the Goblin think, because the Goblin was him; though Norman had a gist that somewhat, whatever the thing that made his other him turned into such monstrous creature also erased any trace of his humanity. The Goblin was cruel and he wouldn’t hesitate to resort to cruelty. _If_ the Goblin hadn’t make it out yet that the other child he took was Peter Parker, he would go to the Parkers’ house to get Peter.

 

Then, after that, he would be expecting _him_. As an ally.

 

“I think”, Norman muttered slowly. “I have a plan.”

 

Spider Man somersaulted to the armchair in front of him, crouching down on the seat.

 

“I’m all ears”, Spider man said. Norman thought he could make the outline of a grin from behind the mask.

 

“Firstly, we should…”

 

\--

 

The Goblin rammed into the small house that he recognized was the Parkers’ residence, laughing gleefully as the wall broke as if it was nothing. Revving down his glider, he thumped to the floor and began to wander.

 

“Little Peter, where are you”, he said in sing-song voice. “Come out, come out.”

 

The house was eerily silence. Perhaps this universe’s Peter Parker was not home, perhaps going out with that frail woman of an aunt of his. Turning to enter the kitchen, he certainly didn’t expect a kick to the head; though at this point, he was almost certain that one certain spider had been following him across the multiverse.

 

“That is so creepy even for your usual standard of creepiness, Gobby”, he heard Spider Man’s voice as thick layers of webs splatted to his face, covering his eyes with sticky white webbing. With a roar, he ripped the webs to shreds.

 

“As I have thought, Peter Parker”, the Goblin threw one, two, of his pumpkin bombs which the spider dodged with ease. “Everything makes sense now, that you are Spider Man.”

 

“What, that even the lame nerd Peter Parker kicks your butt on daily basis?” Spider Man quipped as he aimed another kick to him. He caught Spider Man’s outstretched leg and threw him through the wall.

 

“Say, why don’t you give me your little counterpart, and I will kill you later when we’re back home?” the Goblin grinned and shot another bombs to the unmoving spider, but Spider Man saw his attack and somersaulted out of the way when the bombs exploded the stairs to splinters. “That is, of course, after I’m done with your aunt. Or maybe your _friend_ , that Osborn brat?”

 

“Don’t you dare hurt Harry!” Spider Man catapulted himself and landed a kick to his gut. He shot across the room, crashing to the wall where frames and trinkets were raining upon him. As the Goblin climbed to his feet, his eyes caught it; a photo depicting the adult Parkers and two children, a boy and a girl. The Goblin recognized the boy.

 

It was the damned boy that he took along with that little Osborn critter.

 

Throwing a blast of electricity to the Spider Man’s direction, the Goblin ran to where he put his glider. He revved the engine on and hovered above Spider Man’s head.

 

“Don’t worry, Peter Parker. I promise to kill your counterpart very swiftly.” And with that, he flew away with triumphant laughter.

 

There would be no Spider Man in this universe… only his counterpart that sooner or later would realize the err of his way.

 

\--

 

Norman could hear the Goblin even as he was hiding in the Parkers’ basement, feeling sick on his stomach as the battle raged on above his head. The Goblin, the other him from Spider Man’s universe… He threatened to hurt his own son just because it would hurt Peter Parker too. What kind of _monster_ who would even think about hurting their own _children?_

 

Maybe it was yearly practice of fatherhood, but Norman couldn’t help but feeling something for his son from that universe. It was the same kind of feeling that he felt when his own son, his little boy, woke him up in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm raging outside their apartment, asking way too politely if he was allowed to sleep in _his_ bed because the thunders sounded like monsters roaring outside his window.

 

“Oh, Harry…”

 

Protective. That was how he felt to the son that was not his by blood, that was separated by dimensional barrier, that he hadn’t even met in his life before. He had no doubt that their plan would succeed, and that by the end of the day, his own son—this universe’s Harry Osborn—would be safe. But the Harry Osborn from Spider Man’s universe… he had no father who loved him, who would readily give everything to protect him like Norman would to his own Harry.

 

If Norman wanted to punch the Goblin in the face for kidnapping his son before, now he wanted to _crush_ him for even thinking to hurt that other Harry Osborn, just so he wouldn’t hurt him.

 

He waited until the sounds of battle subsided, before crawling up the stairs. From the gap on the door, he could see Spider Man lying on the floor, attempting to catch his breath.

 

“Is he gone”, he whispered loud enough for Spider Man to hear. Spider Man turned his head to him and gave a thumb up. Norman walked out of the basement and offered a hand to help Spider Man stand. Spider Man took it and, with an elaborate somersault, stood up on his feet.

 

“Tracker’s all set. It seems that he’s making a nest in an abandoned warehouse”, Spider Man checked the device on his wrist, which seemed to be a communicator of some sort.

 

“I’ll take the cab”, Norman nodded.

 

“And I’ll swing”, Spider Man began to walk to the front door. “Gosh, let’s hope that he really wants you to kill the little me, or else we’re screwed.”

 

“Your aunt is so going to kill me, either way”, Norman lamented.

 

\--

 

It was madness, Norman thought. They didn’t have a tenth of a plan, and even what they had was solely depended on pure guesses and luck.

 

Rather than flipping the city upside down to find the Goblin, they lured him to the place where they knew he would come to find Peter Parker. Namely, the Parkers’ residence. While Norman was hiding, Spider Man would fight the Goblin, place a tracker bug on him, and make him realize that the kid he’d kidnapped was Peter Parker all along.

 

Past this point, Norman had to play guess. Since the Goblin said something about helping him for world domination and such, Norman guessed that the Goblin would make him to _kill_ Peter in a deranged attempt to turn him into Goblin #2. The Goblin knew, however, that Norman had weakness and he would use Harry to make him do as he wished.

 

After that, they had nothing to plan out but the mere gist of it. Norman would walk in, distract the Goblin while Spider Man snuck in and grab the children, then they would walk out. It was _very_ vague and everything could easily go so wrong.

 

Norman was shaking the whole walk up the staircase. The Goblin was waiting for him at the topmost level, grinning maniacally as he entered the room, and he fought the urge to punch the Goblin square in the face. It was counterproductive to their plan. He would have time to punch the Goblin later, after he saved the children.

 

“Took you long enough”, the Goblin sneered.

 

“I’m here now, am I not?” Norman tilted his head up slightly in what he hoped was condescending manner. “Say, as a scientist, I am quite curious about you. I’ve read some files about Dr. Erskine’s super soldier serum and I noticed from our brief encounter that you have all the properties. Minus the, ah, physical appearance, of course.”

 

“Aren’t you worried about your son?” the Goblin started circling him. Norman kept his haughty posture despite feeling like a mouse before a snake.

 

“You wouldn’t hurt him”, Norman hoped his voice shook enough to show a hidden fear.

 

“Wouldn’t I?” the Goblin mocked.

 

“You wouldn’t. I know the way you think. I am you”, Norman glanced the monster from the corner of his eye. “For you, I am a wild card, a completely unknown variable. It throws you off your MO. You won’t hurt my son because you don’t know what I will do to you.”

 

“You are weak”, the Goblin stood in front of him and leaned forward. God, up close he looked even uglier.

 

“But I am curious about you”, Norman narrowed his eyes. Stalling. He needed to stall. By now, Spider Man had to be inside the building already. He needed to stall until Spider Man gave him the signal that he had the boys safe. “Tell me, is your body a product of a failed attempt at recreating Dr. Erskine’s serum?”

 

The Goblin snorted; and by heavens, his breath stank. “Why are you curious about the serum? Don’t you have no time for world domination?”

 

“It’s purely for scientific reasons”, Norman replied coldly. “I have signed a contract with the military to recreate the serum. When it’s done, I think a beach house in Bahama doesn’t sound bad.” And that was the truth. Or half-truth, at least.

 

“You plan to sell the serum”, the Goblin chuckled, as if the idea was completely alien to him. “Why not use it yourself? You will be powerful, then.”

 

“And have myself transformed into a monster like you? I’d rather like my current appearance, thank you very much”, Norman gave the monster a sneer. “And money is power too, if you have forgotten.”

 

“What use your money will be if it can’t protect you from harm?” the Goblin tried again. Norman felt like he was in an Introduction to Supervillain class.

 

“Politically, it will be easier to rule if you don’t have appearance of a monster. Less people will throw a coup.”

 

The Goblin went back into circling him again. Norman could feel cold sweat trailing down his back. He felt like one wrong answer could end his life right there and then. He had to hold back a sigh of relief when the Goblin walked away to him.

 

“I will give your son back”, the Goblin started. “If you kill Peter Parker. You know who he is, correct?”

 

Norman made a show of displaying fear. He stood straighter and worried his lips for a few seconds. He hoped it was convincing enough.

 

“I will do everything to save my son”, he said, and that was the truth. “But I want to know why should I kill a harmless six years old boy that still wets his pants sometimes.”

 

“Let’s just say”, the Goblin grinned wider. “That he will give you trouble than he’s worth _later_.”

 

Jerk, Norman cursed inwardly. “That is very vague”, he said out loud.

 

“Do you want to save your son or not?” the Goblin turned his back to open a door. While the Goblin was distracted, Norman glanced the ceiling and saw Spider Man hiding in the shadows. Spider Man gave him a thumb up.

 

The children were safe!

 

“Do you?” the Goblin repeated. Norman smoothed down his expression to cold impassive as if nothing happened.

 

“I do”, Norman replied shakily.

 

“Come here then”, the Goblin waved his hand. It was covered with metallic glove that could shoot electric blasts, or so Spider Man said. Spider Man had told him to avoid it at all costs, though at this point, he had no other option except to play along. Reluctantly, he walked in front of the Goblin.

 

The Goblin steered him to another room; a wide open room with cranes hanging from the ceiling and stacks of empty crates down below. He didn’t know why the Goblin led him here. Would he throw Norman off to the ground?

 

Then, the Goblin started to howl.

 

“OSBORN!!!”

 

That was his cue.

 

He broke out on a run as Spider Man came crashing through the window and rammed the Goblin straight to the head. The Goblin threw him off easily and went to chase Norman, who was running down the stairs. The Goblin jumped and landed in front of him, looking extremely furious.

 

“You little liar—”

 

Spider Man shot a web to the Goblin’s face and landed on the creature’s shoulders, using a rope of webbing to strangle him. Norman used it to duck and slid between the Goblin’s leg while the creature thrashed and howled in his attempt to dislodge Spider Man’s deathly grip.

 

The Goblin threw Spider Man across the room—God, the kid would bruise like hell when it was all done—and shot an electric bolt to Norman who ducked just in time. It missed by a hairline, and God, Norman was so not made for this kind of excitement. He’d never been much of an adrenaline junkie like May Parker had always been.

 

Spider Man swung and landed next to Norman, offering a hand to help him stand.

 

“Wet my pants, _really?_ ” Spider Man whined.

 

“It happened just _this_ morning”, Norman grunted. “How are you still standing? That creature practically threw you through the wall.”

 

“Superhuman regenerative power.” Norman thought he could see Spider Man raising his eyebrow from under the mask. Cheeky.

 

The Goblin roared again and charged like an oversized, overmutated bull. Spider Man leapt away while Norman darted down the stairs—he’d never been big on athletic and it started to show. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to run without wheezing his lungs out.

 

Yet, apparently, the Goblin was more interested in chasing Spider Man. He caught the teen’s leg and prompted to beat him with his massive punch. Spider Man managed to leap away, but the Goblin seemed able to catch him again.

 

Norman hesitated.

 

He could run out of the building, get the kids, and hail a cab back to the apartment. He would be safe while Spider Man took care of the Goblin. He wouldn’t be involved in this… this _madness_ and return to his life like normally.

 

But that kid under the red mask… he was Peter Parker too and he needed help. Norman remembered a boy, way too small for his age, who would mimic everything he said, who thought he was some sort of a ‘Cool Uncle’, whose eyes would brighten when they watched science program on the TV. Yes, this Peter Parker hadn’t know him as close as that Peter Parker, but still…

 

Norman couldn’t leave him.

 

He looked around, trying to find something that he could use as weapon. His eyes landed on the broken metallic bar that used to be part of the railing. He picked it up, took a deep breath and _charged_ ; throwing his weight to swing the bar right to the spot behind the creature’s knee. Human had a large bundle of nerve which provided motoric and sensoric function to specific regions of the leg and foot called the sciatic nerve, just right above the knee. That was… if biological laws applied to this logic-defying creature.

 

It seemed that it did worked, thank God. The Goblin howled in pain as his knee buckled under his weight, but he didn’t give the chance for Norman to regain his balance. The Goblin swung a large, gloved arm at him and threw him across the room, hitting an array of metallic tubes. That was the second time today, Norman grunted painfully. His body ached everywhere.

 

Then, he realized where he landed. Propane tubes.

 

Grunting as he climbed up to his feet, he flailed his arm, trying to catch Spider Man’s attention. Spider Man, who was dodging and leaping away from the Goblin’s attacks, caught him gesturing wildly to the propane tubes. It happened too fast that Norman thought he merely imagined Spider Man nodding at him, but he had to move quickly. Grabbing the metallic bar again, he slammed the Goblin’s back with it to catch his attention.

 

“Apparently, I can kill a harmless six years old kid but I can’t lie. You need to reevaluate your morality, Goblin!” Norman goaded.

 

“Morality!” the Goblin roared. “I have no use for _your_ morality! _Our_ dearest wife had it, and look where she is now!”

 

Norman felt like he was knocked in the gut at the mention of his love, but he quickly shook it off.

 

“I assume you mean where she is _literally_. Metaphorically, she didn’t leave. She’s never left”, he raised the bar like a sword, ready to strike. “Her spirit’s never left me and my children. You’re too blind to see it, Goblin. That is our difference.”

 

The Goblin let out a long, enraged howl as he barreled toward him on his glider. That was when Spider Man swooped in and took Norman out of the Goblin’s path. The monster rammed to the propane tubes, destroying several of them. It was only a matter of seconds before the explosion happened, the gas leaking out ignited by the glider’s propulsor.

 

When it did happen, the initial explosion caused a chain of another explosions from the tubes that didn’t break from the impact. Spider Man managed to swing them out of the building before the explosion destroyed one of the supporting beams, causing a part of the building to cave in. Still, the shockwave knocked them out and they landed in heaps on the concrete outside the warehouse.

 

“Ow”, Norman groaned. He _definitely_ would need a chiropractor later, but now. “Do you think he’s dead?”

 

His question was answered by a crackle in the air and the sky opened just above the warehouse. They saw the Goblin flee into the vortex all while laughing maniacally.

 

“Nope”, Spider Man sighed and already back on his feet. Norman didn’t think he could get up, not in a moment.

 

“Daddy!” “Unca Nowman!”

 

It was the only warning Norman got before two blurry shapes flopped over him, knocking breath out of his lungs. Harry and Peter were positively bouncing with excitement, chattering about how ‘the roof went booms’ and ‘a masked hero saved them’. Norman flailed his arms slightly before managing to pull them into a tight hug, pressing kisses to both children’s face. They giggled in unison and tried to push him away, but Norman wouldn’t have it. He just fought against a monstrous creature to save them and lived to tell the tale. He should be allowed to kiss them if he wished so.

 

“Aww, I didn’t remember being so tiny”, Spider Man cooed. Norman wrenched away from the kids long enough to let the masked teen pull him up to his feet.

 

“Daddy, look! A superhero! Just like the Flash! Are you the Flash, Sir?” Harry chattered while Peter bounced and giggled.

 

“Nope, I’m cooler than the Flash! I’m Spider Man, your friendly neighborhood superhero”, Spider Man posed with his hands on his hips. Norman chuckled as the boys ‘oooh’-ed and ‘aaah’-ed. With luck, they would only stop talking about their little adventure today when the science program started.

 

“Spidew Man!” Little Peter made disgusted face. “Why awe you name youwsewf spidew? Spidew’s not cool!”

 

“That is true, little guy. Spider is not cool. Spider Man, however, is cool”, Spider Man lifted up Peter high in the air, and weren’t that such a bizarre sight. Shouldn’t there be a law forbidding oneself interacting with their alternate self lest they would disrupt the space and time continuum—or so the science fiction writers said? Apparently no.

 

And if that was the case, the Goblin would know better not to attack his penthouse in the first place.

 

“Alright, little guy. I gotta go to save the world again”, Spider Man carefully placed Peter back to the ground.

 

“Wait”, Norman called. “I… Thank you for saving my children. And…” He still had a lot of things to ask. What if he would turn into the Goblin? What if it was indeed an universal constant, a fate set in stone, and he couldn’t change it no matter what he did?

 

“Hey, hey, hey, Mr. O. Listen up”, Spider Man waved his hands in front of Norman’s face. “Out of seven universes I’ve visited, the other six I had help from those universes’ Spider Man. The only exception is this universe, where I had help from an unexpected hero. You, Norman Osborn”, Spider Man tapped a finger to Norman’s chest. “In this universe, you are a hero.”

 

“I don’t think that I am… I—I mean, I—” Norman looked away. He didn’t have superhuman strength like the Goblin or agility like Spider Man. He couldn’t shoot webs and he couldn’t even run a couple feet without wheezing his lungs out.

 

He only wanted to save his children.

 

“You know why I become Spider Man?” Spider Man asked. Norman opened his mouth, wanting to reply. Spider Man cut him off. “It’s not because I got bitten by a genetically engineered spider. It’s not because I have this power. It’s because I want to help those who I love. A partner, a family, someone’s important. I think all those Spider Men have the same reason why they become a hero. Heck, I think all heroes do.”

 

“If you have _any_ doubt and you think you can’t change your fate, just… remember that. Okay?” Spider Man ended with a light pat on Norman’s shoulder.

 

Just before Spider Man could swing away, Norman pulled him into a tight hug.

 

“If you meet your Harry Osborn again, can you tell him something? Tell him that he has a father somewhere else who cares about him, who thinks about his wellbeing and worries over him.”

 

“Uh, sure. I’ll tell him that”, Spider Man looked surprised as he pulled away. “Good luck to you, Mr. O!”

 

“You too, Spider Man.”

 

And with that, the masked superhero flung himself into the vortex in the sky and disappeared.

 

\--

 

Norman hailed a cab to pick up the girls from the penthouse. They would stay in a hotel while the penthouse, along with the Parkers’ house, was repaired. The door needed to be replaced and the girls somehow had managed to destroy the kitchen. Fried rice were everywhere on the floor, and on the table was a few glasses filled with something that Norman swore he wouldn’t touch. He didn’t even want to assess the damage to his living room.

 

The girls themselves had fallen asleep on the couch. Somehow they had ripped the curtains from its railing and used it as makeshift blanket fort. After grabbing a few fresh clothes for himself and the children along with a few toys and books, Norman woke them up and corralled them away to the elevator. The long ride to the Hilton, Harry and Peter were retelling their story about how Spider Man saved them from a big ugly monster.

 

“And then ‘thwip-thwip’, he shoots webs from his hands and catches me and Harry from falling”, Peter mimicked Spider Man’s pose when he shot webs. Erica shrieked and giggled, clapping her tiny hands at the demonstration.

 

“Unfortunately we can’t see him kicking that big ugly monster because he says Daddy’s gonna meet us soon, but then he and Daddy swings out of the exploding building! Boom! Just like in the movies!” Harry spread his arms, making an impression of a big explosion.

 

“Alright, big guys, we’re here”, Norman ushered them out of the cab, letting the bellboy to carry his bag. As they waited for Norman finishing the check-in, Peter was teaching Erica how to ‘thwip’ while Harry carried Louise in piggyback. Overall, they were being loud though not to the level they were disturbing other guests, but what could you expect from children? They made a lot of noises and they didn’t need to be told to behave. Norman knew the children, and especially his own children, were smart—heck, Peter and Louise had already shown signs of them being little genii. They would behave themselves when they thought it was time to behave.

 

As he expected, the children were silent the whole elevator ride up to their floor as they knew there were other people in the elevator with them; though Peter would occasionally whisper ‘thwip’ and made the girls giggle.

 

Norman chose not to register for penthouse, but the hotel room was spacious enough for the children to play. There were two beds; the children could take one bed while Norman took the others. As it was close to lunch hour, Norman ushered them to shower before the food came, especially Harry and Peter who spent all morning being kidnapped. Who knew what kind of filth they got; for all he knew, the Goblin could’ve had something dangerous and/or contagious. Norman knew he needed one too. So, after the children were done, he let them watch the TV while he showered himself.

 

Instead of taking the children to the hotel’s restaurant, Norman decided that room service would be better. He let the children choose what they wanted for lunch. Louise took it upon herself and pointed a few things in the menu for herself and Erica; peanut butter and chocolate chip pancakes, banana crumb cakes, and banana-blueberry muffins. Harry wanted some waffles and Peter was more interested to classic bacon strips and eggs. Norman added some broccoli-cheddar quiches that had to be eaten before the sweet stuffs. This resulted a few groaning, but when the food arrived, they ate the quiches without fuss.

 

After lunch, Norman took the children to the pool. While the children played and splashed around, he worked on some company matters that his secretary emailed earlier. He even managed to read on some materials from the virology lab before he decided that it was time for dinner. Tired from playing all day, the children went to bed without too much protest.

 

Norman couldn’t catch sleep that night; partly because his body ached everywhere, partly because of the event happened today. As he listened to the children’s soft breathing, his mind kept returning to the files from his biogenesis lab.

 

\--

 

Norman took the children to school the next morning, thankfully without any more disturbance barring the horrible New York traffic. After that, he drove off to Oscorp Tower, his fingers tapping impatiently on the wheel. What he was about to do was for the best, he kept reassuring himself.

 

Biogenesis lab was empty. There was only one scientist working in this lab aside from himself. Otto Octavius, said scientist, stood behind him as he stared of years of work. Project Double Zero was supposed to be Oscorp’s masterpiece to recreate Dr. Erskine’s supersoldier serum, through combining a few species of spiders to create a new species which its venom would be harvested as the main ingredient of the serum.

 

He’d ran the simulations, putting all known variables into the tests, and found that this very serum had a very slim chance of unknown mutation, possibly would turn him into that murderous, malicious monster in his distant future. The more harmless variation of the mutation would turn Peter Parker into Spider Man.

 

Looking at the files, he knew now that this project would bring nothing but disaster.

 

“How many scientists know about this, Otto?” he linked his hands behind his back as he stared at the chemical formula blinking on the screen.

 

“Just two of us, Mr. Osborn”, Otto replied cheerily. “As you said, the military wants to keep this hush-hush. We don’t even put the data in the mainframe.”

 

“I see”, Norman muttered, walking to the containment unit where the spiders skittered about. “Then, you are fired.”

 

“Mr. Osborn…?” Otto’s voice wavered slightly, but Norman had already moved to grab a vial of Prallethrin and walked to the containment unit. “Mr. Osborn, what are you doing?”

 

Saving the world, Norman thought grimly. “This world is not ready for supersoldier serum, Otto”, he replied instead. Before Otto could stop him, he already flicked the switch to vaporize the insecticide inside the containment unit.

 

There might be no Spider Man in this universe if he did this, but then there would be no Goblin either. That was probably for the best. Peter might not be his son, but he’d seen what Spider Man do. He know that there was no way he would let Peter facing such life-threatening situations as Spider Man, if he could do something to prevent it.

 

It was for the best.

 

“No!” Otto grabbed Norman’s hands away from the containment unit, but it was too late. They watched as the spiders writhe and die one by one; Norman with sick satisfaction as they fell to the bottom, and Otto with horror. “What have you done! The contract with the military will be—”

 

“I will cancel the contract, don’t worry about that”, Norman wrenched his hands off of Otto’s grip. “There will be consequences and chances are it will be Oscorp’s downfall. It doesn’t concern you, Otto. It was a heavy price, but it was a price I’m willing to pay.”

 

“A price for what?!” Otto was near hysterical. He grabbed Norman’s shoulders and shook him as if trying to make him see reasons.

 

But Norman had already seen it, saw it with his own eyes what the serum could do, understood the implications from bits and scraps of stories that Spider Man told him about how it turned lives upside down. He would be the Goblin and he would hurt his son, his own son. Norman couldn’t tell Otto that. He wouldn’t believe it.

 

“If it’s about the result, I’ve told you that in a decade we will have a result!” Otto was laughing and crying at the same time. Norman couldn’t help but took pity of him, but then he remembered.

 

In a decade, Peter Parker would be bitten by a genetically altered spider, and that was the result. He would travel through the multiverse to chase after a megalomaniacal monster and stop him from his devious plans. He was only fifteen when he got bit and took the responsibilies of a hero. He wasn’t supposed to do that. He was supposed to be a teenager, enjoying what teenagers do to enjoy life—not chasing down dangerous villains because he thought he was supposed to do, because he thought he was the only one who could stop them, who had powers to do so.

 

Hardening his resolve, Norman pulled out a flashdrive from his pocket and plugged it into the computer, knowing fully that the potent virus inside it would erase all the data along with their multiple backups. It would cause crashes in the server, but it didn’t matter. Everything didn’t matter anymore. Otto screamed, begged him to stop, it was his lifelong work of research compressed in a few terabytes of data in that computer—but the deed had already done. The virus had attacked the files and there was no stopping.

 

Without waiting for the virus to finish its job, Norman grabbed a torch and ignited a trash bin. He pulled out all hardcopies of the data and threw them into the fire. The fire alarm had begun to wail and trigger the fire hazard protocol, locking down the lab completely as the sprinklers started. Norman threw methanol into the fire, causing it to burn more fiercely.

 

He moved around the room, gathering things to add into the fire and ignoring Otto who was sobbing on the wet floor, unable to stop him. When he felt his resolve weakening, he kept reminding himself that it was for Harry, for Peter, for his children. He added more methanol to keep the fire from dying out, until there was nothing left but ashes in the metallic bin.

 

“He’s fired”, he said to his secretary, after the fire hazard team pulled them out from the wrecked lab, sopping wet from head to toe. At his words, Otto was dragged out by the securities thrashing and screaming.

 

It was done. It was for the best.

 

\--

 

The result to his action was quite severe. Despite his board members’ wheedling, begging, and arguing, Norman was adamant in cancelling the military contract. This resulted to Oscorp’s stocks plumetting down by nearly fifteen percent and Oscorp losing nearly fourty percent of its shareholders. The board members and the press began to hound him down, needling about his capability (or the lack thereof) to lead his company, but Norman took it all with unmatched grace.

 

He steered Oscorp to focus more in the medical advancement where it was at least safer than toying with military stuff, and rebuilt the company from nearly a scratch. He watched even more closely to the company researches with none to be the wiser and burned the potentially dangerous ones down from the mainframe. He tightened his friendship with the Parkers with the sole reason to look after Peter carefully.

 

For nearly a decade, he was a silent guardian, protecting his family and the humanity in general from science they could yet to understand. For nearly a decade, he assured himself that it was for the best. He was a father, an uncle, a scientist, and nothing else.

 

Until a few months after Peter Parker’s fiftieth birthday, Spider Man first appeared—a masked vigilante dressed in red and blue caught in action of stopping a bank robbery.

 


End file.
